The THIRTY-SIX STRATEGIES is a unique collection of ancient Chinese proverbs that describe some of the most cunning and subtle war tactics ever devised.
Whereas other Chinese military texts such as Sun Zi’s THE ART OF WAR focus on military organization, leadership, and battlefield tactics, the THIRTY-SIX STRATEGIES are more suitably applied in the fields of politics, diplomacy, and espionage. These proverbs describe not only battlefield strategies, but tactics used in psychological warfare to undermine both the enemy’s will to fight and his sanity. Tactics such as the ‘double cross,’ the ‘frame job,’ and the ‘bait and switch,’ can be traced back through thousands of years of Chinese history to such proverbs as Hide the Dagger Behind a Smile, Kill With a Borrowed Sword, and Toss Out a Brick to Attract Jade, respectively. Though other Chinese military works of strategy have at least paid lip service to the Confucian notion of honor, the THIRTY-SIX STRATEGIES make no pretense of being anything but ruthless.
The author Stefan H. Verstappen is a master of the Lohan School of martial arts and one of the few westerners to have lived and studied Kung Fu in China.
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